During my final year as a Pharm D intern at the hospital, I had the opportunity to interact personally with many doctors from various departments. Throughout my clinical training, I learned about patient management and the importance of treating patients with empathy and compassion.
However, outside their professional lives, I observed the quiet compromises doctors made in their personal space and time, rushing through tea breaks, shortening family visits, working long hours with very little sleep. They would constantly run around to keep everything together while handling a large number of patients.
I often wondered how many of them might have been artists, dancers or musicians but with hardly any time to pursue those passions, all to serve humanity above everything in this world. I always had one question on my mind, how are they truly doing? Are they able to bear these demands mentally?” because after all they are humans too.
A study revealed that up to 61.43% of doctors experience emotional stress and that many struggle to maintain healthy lifestyles due to demanding work schedules, limited leisure time, and the pressure to remain professionally competent. This highlights the need for an approach to address these issues.
The study concludes that doctors with higher emotional intelligence are generally better at regulating their emotions and coping with stress. However, strengthening emotional intelligence alone is not sufficient.
Supporting them mentally is also the responsibility of the healthcare system and the community, by creating supportive work environments, establishing peer support networks, implementing wellness programs, offering flexible work schedules, ensuring fair workload distribution, and improving workplace policies to promote work life balance
We often praise doctors for their dedication and tireless efforts, but it is time we also learned to see them as ordinary people doing their best.
What are your thoughts on this ?
MBH/PS